Unexpected
by IronChainDragon
Summary: So, a town's secretly on the verge of collapse, Lynne has amnesia, and Sissel has no clue what's going on. Also, Missile's freaking out, Yusei's friends think the woman talking to the cat ghost is crazy, and there are people with weird purple cores running around. Loosely based on Stardust Accelerator.
1. Attack

Daichi: This came about when I was mucking about in character customization and created a character with a surprising resemblance to Lynne. The story will branch out, however, because of different characters and circumstances, and the fact that when fate has it in for you like this, it's kind of impossible to go through without dying at least once.

Verity: As you know, both mentioned franchises are owned by males. Dai is female, therefore, she cannot own the mentioned franchises.

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It was a lovely day. The sun was bright, there was a slight breeze, and barely a cloud in the sky. Several people were out enjoying the great outdoors. One such person was walking her dog, with a little black kitten accompanying them. The three were seemingly silent, though occasionally, one of them would move as if they were reacting to something.

Soon enough, there was nobody around except for the three of them. Or so they believed. A shadow detached itself from a nearby wall, and slid towards the woman. The kitten moved towards the shadow as it lunged.

Four minutes later, there was just a fallen leash, a worried Pomeranian, and an empty shell.

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 _Lynne? Could you wake up, Lynne? I know you're not dead._ The person lying on the ground mumbled a little bit, but did not get up. She might not have been dead, but she was certainly asleep.

Worried, the spirit flipped the trash lid he had found himself in and let it fall to the ground. She didn't stir at the noise. He cast out for anything he could use to get closer, and froze.

There was a man passing by the edge of his vision with a purple core.

Now, even if he'd found other ghosts nearby, the very color of the core was open to question. Generally, living beings had golden cores. Ghosts were naturally able to possess blue cores. He'd never seen a purple core before, but something told him it wasn't something he'd want to see again.

Still, his friend needed help, and there really wasn't much of a choice here. Lid, trash can, piece of garbage, other piece of garbage, he hopped through objects until he got in range.

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One little known fact about Kalin Kessler was that, in his life, he had been a cat person. It was little known because he'd only ever told a few people, actively avoided telling the ones he called his coworkers, and that there simply weren't enough cats around for people to figure it out on their own.

Despite locking up a good amount of his human emotions, the sudden appearance of a little black kitten with a red scarf almost brought them out again. The voice in the back of his head was getting louder, and the cat flinched away. "What are you doing here?"

 _Asking for help._ He hadn't actually expected a response. _My friend is over in that direction, and I'm getting kind of worried. She hasn't moved in a while, I have no clue where this is, and letting her wander is not an option. She's... accident prone._

He didn't know why he followed the cat's instructions, but he did, and quickly realized that he had no idea what to do, eventually ditching the woman and cat ghost outside of a subway tunnel with a note.

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He didn't like that the human had abandoned them, but at the same time, it was a relief to be away from that strange purple core. He took notice of the ones who brought Lynne inside, and carefully followed. He'd noticed an absence of any kind of telephone, and resigned himself to scrambling from core to core. Maybe he could convince Lynne to carry around something he could possess.

Still, nothing could happen until she woke up. So he'd wait until that happened.

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When she pulled herself awake, she didn't know what she'd expected. This probably wasn't it. She had no clue where she was. Time stopping a moment later didn't help, either. She also had a kitten in her head.

"Why is there a kitten in my head?" The little cat tilted his head.

 _What do you mean? I've always done this. You never complained before._ Somehow, she couldn't bring herself to doubt that. But she was certain she'd remember a telepathic cat. Maybe. _Do you remember anything?_

No. No, she didn't. She knew there was something, she just couldn't quite grasp it. _Should've figured. I imagine it isn't easy to forget a cat, say, stopping you from getting hit by the ice cream truck. Or the large number of times I stopped you from getting shot._

What kind of things had she done before waking up here? _Strange ones that generally ended in death._ She came to the realization that the cat was reading her thoughts. _To be fair, it's impossible not to. Also, everything you've heard from me so far is in my thoughts. I can't exactly speak normally. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a cat. Also, I'm a ghost._

"You didn't think to mention that first?" _I didn't think it was important, at first._ Fair enough.

"So, what's your name, and what's mine? I especially need the second one." _I'm Sissel, you're Lynne, and we're both lost._

That was not what she'd hoped to hear.

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She quickly realized that not everyone could hear Sissel. Mostly they acted like she was crazy. It didn't help that, half of the time, she had no clue what they were talking about.

Sissel was currently possessing a pen she'd stuffed in her pocket. He was paying attention to what the others were saying, at least until they decided not to throw out the seemingly crazy person.

Lynne didn't know what kind of place she'd come from, but she was fairly certain it wasn't anything like this one.

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Yomiel answered the door to see a Pomeranian carrying the limp body of a cat, and mentally broadcasting worried gibberish. He didn't know what he expected, but somehow, this wasn't it.

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Daichi: Will Lynne recover her memories? Yes, of both timelines. Did she have memories of both timelines before? I'm not telling you, and it doesn't matter anymore, now does it?


	2. Destruction

Daichi: When I say this is loosely based on the game, I mean really loosely. The important plot points are sort of there, just less touched upon because we already know how the game goes. I will not copy and paste every line, because that's just boring for everyone involved.

Verity: We don't own the mentioned franchises.

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Detective Jowd had seen his cat leave just a few hours ago with no explanation, and hadn't really been worried. Sissel did this all the time, and he'd be back soon enough.

He started worrying when he answered a call from a confused Yomiel, who apparently had the cat's body... and a distraught Pomeranian.

He wasn't quite sure what he had expected, but that definitely was not it.

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 _So... do you think you could stay here for a bit? Seriously, do not move, I'm leaving for a bit and would like to be able to find you again, just in case._ Lynne's mental image of the cat twitched his ears.

"What's the worst that could happen?"

 _Why did you say that? Now I'm really worried. Just... make sure you aren't dead when I come back, all right?_

"I make no promises."

 _That is probably for the best._

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He wanted to find the one that had helped them. He needed to know who he was, and why he had been so unsettling.

His conversation with him had been not unpleasant, but there had been something else that gave him a headache just trying to think about it.

It was the color of the man's core that had thrown him off. Before that day, cores had come in either blue or gold. This was a new development, and given how painful it had been to make contact, it wasn't one he wanted to be in the dark about.

Suddenly it felt as if the world had been pulled out from underneath his paws. Figuratively, anyway. Something was nearby. And whoever it was knew that he was there.

He jumped to a more hidden location, but the feeling remained. _Who's there?_

"This is the place, right?"

"I was around here. Still, I have to go. It's risky for me to be here, so close to them. You'll tell me if you find anything, right?"

"Of course. I still think you were just hallucinating again."

"I had no clue she was there until he mentioned it."

"If you say so." Sissel decided that it wasn't worth it, and decided to get out of there before anything happened. Still, he checked for nearby cores.

Purple.

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He knew it. This just had to happen at least once. He had no clue how Lynne had ever managed to stay alive before he came along, because this was just excessive.

He was used to dealing with ridiculous deaths. If he didn't know someone, he'd generally turn back the clock for them if it was exceptionally undignified, and there were a lot of those. And then there were the truly absurd deaths, that only one person in the world could ever manage. Like this one.

He wasn't quite sure how Lynne had managed to collapse the wall on herself, but figured that he'd find that out for himself.

 _You know, I did tell you not to die._

 _I don't recall making any promises._ She'd adjusted to death rather quickly. Of course, this was the one who figured out how to telepathically communicate without any actual ghosts being involved. Perhaps things like being used to dying never did fade. A bit too used to dying, but given her luck, that was probably for the best.

 _Fair enough._ He tried not to let his irritation show. Of course, this was the ghost world, so thinking about how annoyed he was was just as if he had been actually saying it. _You're lucky I can turn back time for you._

 _You can? Really?_

 _Oh, right, I never told you that. Just stick with me, and everything will be perfectly fine._ Time rewound itself around the two of them, until, finally, it was half an hour earlier.

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Lynne's death had involved explosives. Given the collapsed wall, that hadn't been too much of a surprise. Where the explosives had come from was anybody's guess.

All they knew was that a group kids had gotten their hands on explosives, and decided to set them off by the wall. Why they had chosen to do that was beyond the kitten, who just twitched his whiskers and got to work.

The first thing that came to mind was simply getting Lynne away from the wall, but there wasn't much around there that he could use as a distraction. The second option was stopping the explosion. Viable, if, possibly, a bit frustrating.

The kids that set off the explosives were not easily distracted, and doing something wrong could cause the explosion to be set off much sooner. Still, the nearby siren was worth a try.

"Taiyo! Did you set that off?"

"It wasn't me, Suki!" He dropped his explosives and walked over to the siren, most likely to check why it had gone off. "That's strange. It doesn't have any power source."

With Taiyo and Suki arguing, Sissel had time to move. He flipped a nearby box's lid, causing it to fall into a nearby puddle, which splashed the matches that the kids were planning to light.

"Wait, why are the matches wet?"

"I'm not sure, but we can't use them now. We'll have to try again another day. Maybe not after the rain."

 _Good, that should have done it. Now, ideally, this situation won't happen again._ Sissel was just the slightest bit annoyed.

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In the world where they came from...

"So, she isn't picking up?"

"Not at all. She doesn't seem to have powers, but... well, it's not like we're the best choice. We should leave a message." She picked up the phone and dialed again. "So, Lynne, this is your mother. You remember your older sister Metis, right? Well, she's dead, and we certainly can't look after Athena. We'll be coming around in a month or so. If you can't take her, call us back by then, all right?"

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Daichi: So, there is a time limit for sanity involved, now. And the signs of a few more crossover elements are showing, although given that it's mostly about Sissel and Lynne, they won't be that big a deal. Also, there is a fourth crossover that really won't do much. A hint for that: Powers run in the family, and will give Lynne an edge against the Dark Signers.


	3. As Time Passes

Daichi: So, time to descend once more into the realms of insanity...

Verity: By which you mean you were really, really bored. Because when you're bored, you think of dumb ways to kill Lynne.

Daichi: It works, doesn't it?

BlackGatomon: We don't own anything... thank every deity there is for that.

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"You've never played Duel Monsters before?" Lynne shrugged.

"Not that I know of." She had no Duel Disk, no cards... honestly, the only things she had were her clothes and sort-of a cat. _Do you know what Duel Monsters is?_

 _Never heard of it. Why are you asking me about human card games? I'm a cat._ Fair enough.

"I don't think I have, though." Sissel seemed to know her, after all, so if he'd never heard of something, it was safe to say she'd never mentioned it to him.

"Well, we can't have that!" Rally decided. "Come on, I know a great place to find cards!"

 _I'm getting a bad feeling about this,_ Sissel commented. _Could you maybe try not to die today? It seems to happen whenever you go outside... and some times when you don't._ Yes, she remembered the fireworks incident.

Honestly, she had no clue why it kept happening, unless she or someone in her family had messed with a god or something. Or maybe a misfortune curse, if those existed. _I'm not sure if they do, but it would explain a lot. I have no clue how you ever survived without me._ She couldn't be that bad. _Your personal daily record is three times that of anyone else's._ Okay, so maybe she was that bad.

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Sissel was wishing he had his body back at the moment, because it was a lot easier to be expressive that way. _I can sort of understand most of the pile. I was there. But where did the motorcycle frame come from?_

 _What makes you think I know? I wasn't watching._

 _And that perfectly sums up everything._

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"Dad? Why is Missile here?" Kamila asked.

"Lynne had to go... out for a bit. So he's staying here until she gets back."

"...Okay. Dad? Where's Sissel? He's usually back by now." Her father sighed.

"...I wish I knew."

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Sissel didn't pay much attention to what humans did for entertainment. Well, most of the time. He had a soft spot for the television. But he had yet to see one with his favorite shows in all the time they'd been... wherever they were. _Note to self: Learn to read._

 _Why?_ Lynne was sorting through the cards she'd salvaged- all five of them. It would be a while before she could actually play. _It's just cards._

 _And that's just an empty motorcycle frame._ He retorted, twitching his tail in the direction of the offending object. He wasn't sure why they'd brought it back, but apparently spikes-Yusei- thought it would be useful for something.

 _It is! It just... rolled down at me._

 _You were hit by an empty motorcycle frame. At this point, I have to start treating everything as a threat._ He'd started doing so long ago, in fact, because just once he'd like for Lynne to go a week without dying.

It didn't seem to be happening any time soon.

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"I'm telling you, Misty, it was real!" Kalin shouted at her. "I'm not crazy... well... not that crazy! I haven't hallucinated in months!" Which really wasn't helping his case. At all.

Misty sighed. "Kalin... I think it's time you took a vacation."

"We're undead! We don't need vacations!"

"You're talking crazy more than usual. That is not a good thing. You need a vacation. Or maybe just human contact..." She mused, wondering why she seemed to be the only reasonably sane one. _Ccarayhua, what do you think?_

 _I think it's because you actually talk to the mortal insects. Somehow, that managed to keep you relatively rational. In addition, you were still sane when you were alive. Now, weren't we going to try and figure out where Izinski is?_

 _This would be a lot easier if you let us use internet..._ She did have it, after all. But apparently, looking up the locations of the Signers would be seen as 'suspicious'. Misty got the feeling that she was the only sane being of the group, counting the Immortals. Perhaps if there was another girl around...

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The next day, Sissel saw the man with the purple core again. "More crazy than usual, she said. Need a vacation, she said. The undead don't need vacations."

 _I'm afraid I have to disagree. But then, I have my paws full as it is._ The man turned around.

"I knew it! You have to come with me to see Misty! That'll prove it!" Oh. Right. He'd said that. He needed to watch his thoughts around this person, not least of which because he seemed to be completely insane. "Am not! Roman's worse than I am!" He honestly did not want to know.

 _Sorry, but I have to go find my friend. She's probably gotten herself into trouble again._ It seemed he just couldn't leave her alone for very long without her dying. He had no idea why. It just happened.

"But Misty thinks I'm more insane than usual!"

 _I don't think I can help with that. I don't know how insane you usually are._ The sooner he found his way home, and away from these people, the better.

He couldn't even bring himself to complain about Lynne getting herself shot again on the way back. Honestly, at this point, he sort of expected it.

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Daichi: In this world, imagine the Dark Signers as a sort of sitcom where everyone's a lunatic with homicidal tendencies. Because that's pretty much what they are. Carly's the only real exception, and she's not there yet.


	4. Runner Up

Verity: Admit it, you're only working on this to avoid burying yourself in the drama that is your other stories.

Daichi: They aren't all filled with drama! Mostly the ones currently written into a corner, but still-

Verity: You can use them as evidence the day you figure out how to continue them.

BlackGatomon: So glad she doesn't own these things. Otherwise… well… yeah.

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Sissel did not know where the parts for the newly uncovered motorcycle came from. Sissel did not want to know where the motorcycle parts came from. So long as nobody ended up dead, he didn't particularly care, either.

Admittedly, someone ending up dead seemed fairly likely, if only because Lynne was starting to take an interest in the bike. And Sissel didn't think he'd ever seen her on a normal bicycle before, let alone one of these.

Not that it would be completed anytime soon. And completion was going to be delayed by one simple fact.

Yusei was leaving. Sissel wasn't sure why, just that he was. Odds were he wouldn't be coming back for quite some time, if at all. It was too bad, really. While they'd never had a chance to talk, he liked Yusei. The man seemed responsible enough, and had a working sense of self-preservation. Not enough people had that these days.

So maybe he was a little bitter. Back before ending up here, he'd used to go entire days without having to drag Lynne out of one mess or another, sometimes weeks. What he wouldn't give to have that back.

 _I'll miss having someone sensible around,_ He mused. Lynne, to her credit, didn't visibly react. So she'd at least caught on to that part. And it had only taken the better part of two weeks.

 _What about me?_

 _Did you or didn't you slip and fall off a roof because you thought you'd spotted a quarter?_ Lynne didn't respond. _I thought so._

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Despite Yusei's absence and Sissel's misgivings, the motorcycle was eventually completed. And painted, although nobody was entirely sure who decided to make it look like a streak of flames other than that it was probably an unconscious effort.

Sissel, having had access to Lynne's thoughts on occasion, could confirm that she, at least, thought it was awesome. Which was a bad sign. The more caught up on how cool something was, the more likely Lynne was to let down her guard and die horribly.

Not that she needed to let down her guard for that. It was like the world was out to get her some days. Most days. All the time.

Though Sissel's presence probably didn't help, given that she'd stopped caring after a point. Once she'd become inured to death- far too quickly, really- keeping her alive became that much harder.

Which was why her excitement about the motorcycle worried him. While it did possess a core- really, if he wanted, he could probably control the whole thing- he just hoped his first experiment would not be because of Lynne's continual misfortune.

"So, who's going to test it out first?" The smallest of the humans asked. "Lynne, do you want a go?"

Today was not a good day.

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 _How? How is it that you can drive so well, when you can't take a simple walk without dying?_ Sissel supposed he should have been happy. This meant less work for him, after all. But it still made no sense.

 _I'm not sure. It just happened, really._ Which both of them were aware was no answer at all. Given their lack of any other sort of applicable skills that didn't involve time travel, they'd take it. _Are you complaining?_

Of course not. He wouldn't complaining about his job- keep the people he cared about alive- suddenly becoming so much easier. Worst case scenario, just stick Lynne on her bike and hope she could ride it out.

...Probably not the best idea. But it was better than the alternative.

"Wow, that was amazing, Lynne!" The smallest human ran up to her. Sissel had never bothered to actually remember his name… or anyone's name, for that matter. They weren't that important, really, beyond actually having working senses of self-preservation.

"You… you really think so?" _Sissel, what do I do?_

 _How am I supposed to know? I'm a cat._ Lynne rolled her eyes. The other human didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah! Are you sure it was your first time on a Runner?" Well, given that whole amnesia thing, that would be pretty hard to answer

"I… think so? Maybe? I'm not sure…" _Sissel?_

 _I've never seen you on one, but then, I never actually lived with you._ Not that he was entirely sure this particular type of motorcycle even existed where they came from, but that was besides the point.

 _I don't think it is._ Right. One of these days, he would learn to stop thinking before something came up that he didn't actually want to say. Today was not that day.

Unusual talent or not, he couldn't help but think that them letting her keep the bike was a recipe for disaster if he ever heard one. Bad enough the trouble that she got to on her own, but if she could drive straight into it…

 _I knew you cared!_

 _It's not like that's much of a secret or anything._

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Time it took Lynne to get into her first Runner-related disaster? Three days. It seemed she just couldn't stay out of trouble.

Of course, given that she'd spent almost the entire three days testing out the bike, it was really only a matter of time. And since, thanks to the tests, it had been a whole three days since her last death, Sissel didn't even mind. It had been relaxing.

 _I swear, Lynne, one of these days I actually will find out if a ghost can have a heart attack._ It took him a few moments to realize that she didn't get the whole joke- it had been made before they came to the Satellite.

...He needed to get them home somehow. If only to find people who would understand properly.

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Daichi: Being friends with Lynne is stressful. For fairly obvious reasons. Hopefully we will be getting out of the Satellite soon.


End file.
